Title - Train services disrupted, traffic snarls on roads

Train commuters faced a lot of inconvenience towards the end of evening peak hours due to rain on Monday. Suburban services on the main line of Central Railway (CR) were disrupted due to a signal failure at Kurla and a tree-fall on the railway tracks, while Western Railway (WR) services were hit

by a technical snag in pantograph of a local train. All these disruptions took place towards the end of peak hours. The harbour line services were running around 30 minutes late as a tree fell on the tracks between Chembur and Govandi station at around 9.05 pm. According to railway authorities, trains were stopped only for 20 minutes and services were restored once the tree was removed.

Main line services of CR also ran late as there was a signal problem at Kurla, which is known as ‘track down’ in technical terms. “Both up and down lines were hit due to the problem, which occurred around 8.30 pm, and all trains were running on A-marker signal or on safe mode,” said AK Singh, Central Railway’s public relations officer.

There was a near blackout at CR’s Dadar station at around 8.15 pm, when around 70% of the lights on the platforms suddenly went off, leading to panic among passengers for some time. But CR claimed that 30% emergency lights on the platforms were working. The power was restored at around 9:30 pm.

According to sources, WR services were hit due to a technical problem in the pantograph of a Churchgate-bound train at Bhayander station around 8.20pm. The train was held up for some time due to the problem. An eyewitness claimed there was a big spark from the pantograph followed by noise. This led to panic among passengers, who immediately evacuated the train.